What Irked You Today?

[slusher]

51 minutes ago, FoMoCo66 said:

The kicker is that they put the 2nd newer pice of wood on to make it better, but now the bracket is bending. Oh and the post the whole room is held up by is c channel for hanging pipe, it's rusting out in the concrete. It will end up being refooted and resupported before anyone steps a foot in there. The room is literally falling off.

More photos.

I would be calling somebody before damage is done…

[FoMoCo66]

1 hour ago, johnyrotten said:

On the plus side, you've got room to work, and the doubled up 2x6 is  plenty strong. Looks like those beams are about 8 feet apart, correct. 

Haven't measured it but that seams correct.

[FoMoCo66]

48 minutes ago, slusher said:

I would be calling somebody before damage is done…

Already done, a guys supposed to come over soon.

[A modeler named mike]

2 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

Ouch. Definitely not the proper way to carry the load to a footing, if that's what you want to call those. At the minimum it should be underneath, not cantilevered off of an un-gusseted chunk of angle. That would (redacted) me off.

Was permits pulled? and wasn't there any building inspections done? 

[89AKurt]

20 hours ago, FoMoCo66 said:

See anything wrong with this? This is how they 3 seasons room on our new house is attached.

I'm a self-retired architectural draftsman, I see a long punch list in your future! 😵‍💫  There was a day when I built my house in 1985, and the County did not have a building department to speak of.  The County cared about the septic, but the design could be done freehand on a napkin.  Over the decades it "evolved", there was a time when there was a "rural area" outside of towns that were exempt, but now the whole County is covered.  Showing up at an old house with something like this, and they want to build on top of, I was the one to give the bad news.  I lost potential jobs because I was honest, you need to tear down some structures before adding on.  Don't get me going about "home inspectors" who work with Realtors.  But I couldn't handle dealing with stupid bureaucrats who were new hires and didn't know how to build a dog house, so I quit.  Good luck getting that fixed!

BTW: This is page 666, so let's get this filled up and move on to the next number! 😈

[johnyrotten]

11 minutes ago, 89AKurt said:

Don't get me going about "home inspectors" who work with Realtors. 

I hear ya with that, they missed live knob and tube wiring on my place. Expensive, time consuming project that was.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Same old same old...

[TarheelRick]

I am totally irked with hydrostatic drives. First issue was with a Craftsman mower, bought new in 2011, didn't start using it until late summer 2012. I had bumped a wall with the front tire, side bump not head-on, bent the steering rod. Ordered replacement, changed it and the mower would not back-up straight; the front tires would go in different directions. Fall of 2018 hooked up my leaf-vacuum, would not pull it, the hydro-static drive expired. It is a sealed unit so cannot be repaired, must be replaced. The cost was equivalent to 1/2 the mower. Parked it and bought a Simplicity. Second issue was a Simplicity lawn/garden tractor I acquired from my late uncle's estate. It was fairly old, the deck had rusted some, so my uncle had used it only as a garden tractor. Had some nice implements with it, which all worked off the hydrostatic drive. That drive also went out on me two years after I got it. Tried to find replacement, learned the manufacturer had been out of business for more than 20 years and there were no replacements available. Again, it being a sealed unit could not be repaired. Seems like a conspiracy of lawn/garden equipment manufacturers to sell more new units because it is so expensive to repair/replace those hydrostatic units. My replacement tractor, Massey-Ferguson compact is also hydrostatic drive - just waiting.

[johnyrotten]

43 minutes ago, TarheelRick said:

I am totally irked with hydrostatic drives. First issue was with a Craftsman mower, bought new in 2011, didn't start using it until late summer 2012. I had bumped a wall with the front tire, side bump not head-on, bent the steering rod. Ordered replacement, changed it and the mower would not back-up straight; the front tires would go in different directions. Fall of 2018 hooked up my leaf-vacuum, would not pull it, the hydro-static drive expired. It is a sealed unit so cannot be repaired, must be replaced. The cost was equivalent to 1/2 the mower. Parked it and bought a Simplicity. Second issue was a Simplicity lawn/garden tractor I acquired from my late uncle's estate. It was fairly old, the deck had rusted some, so my uncle had used it only as a garden tractor. Had some nice implements with it, which all worked off the hydrostatic drive. That drive also went out on me two years after I got it. Tried to find replacement, learned the manufacturer had been out of business for more than 20 years and there were no replacements available. Again, it being a sealed unit could not be repaired. Seems like a conspiracy of lawn/garden equipment manufacturers to sell more new units because it is so expensive to repair/replace those hydrostatic units. My replacement tractor, Massey-Ferguson compact is also hydrostatic drive - just waiting.

Look around on YouTube,  there's a bunch of guys that "hotrod" lawn tractors and a few great, while silly, repair channels. Some of those Hydro drives can be refilled and re-sealed. Tyrrell fixes all is one channel. Silly, but the guy knows these things inside out.

Edited May 31 by johnyrotten

[espo]

22 hours ago, FoMoCo66 said:

See anything wrong with this? This is how they 3 seasons room on our new house is attached.

You mention this being your "new house". Was there any type of structure inspection done before closing? Normally finding something of this nature is when you would have your Realtor tell the sellers Realtor there is a problem that needs correcting before closing.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

11 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

...But I couldn't handle dealing with stupid bureaucrats who were new hires and didn't know how to build a dog house, so I quit...

Lotta that around, and not limited to local gubmints' building inspectors, "city engineers", etc...not by a long shot.

Edited June 1 by Ace-Garageguy

[Little Timmy]

I made the mistake of buying an Earthquake garden tiller. Used it for a few days and then it torqued itself on a fist sized rock. Cracked the transmission housing into 5 pieces. The internal gears and other parts are just fine.

Turns out the transmission housing is made from a cast "pot metal".

Not weldable. 

The new transmission is $ 418. I can't just keep the gears and get a new housing, they only sell the transmission complete. 

The tiller new was $ 499.

 

[johnyrotten]

6 hours ago, Little Timmy said:

I made the mistake of buying an Earthquake garden tiller. Used it for a few days and then it torqued itself on a fist sized rock. Cracked the transmission housing into 5 pieces. The internal gears and other parts are just fine.

Turns out the transmission housing is made from a cast "pot metal".

Not weldable. 

The new transmission is $ 418. I can't just keep the gears and get a new housing, they only sell the transmission complete. 

The tiller new was $ 499.

 

This is that built in obsolescence I go on about. The machine was doing what it's designed to do and failed.  I'm certain a shear pin or some sacrificial part could have been designed to prevent this, but EVERYTHING is built to a price point and disposable today.

[stavanzer]

4 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

This is that built in obsolescence I go on about. The machine was doing what it's designed to do and failed.  I'm certain a shear pin or some sacrificial part could have been designed to prevent this, but EVERYTHING is built to a price point and disposable today.

You are so correct about this. You see a lot of this kind of engineering in major appliances, Esp Dishwashers, Washing Machines and Dryers.

[johnyrotten]

24 minutes ago, stavanzer said:

You see a lot of this kind of engineering

It's brilliant from a manufacturer's perspective of profit,If you think about it. The automotive manufacturers used to make money on their products quality and longevity. And parts.  Now, replacing your vehicle is at a minimum 30 or so thousand new, and you're lucky it gets through the term of the loan before a major issue arises. No coincidence that timing belts last about 60,000 miles, and loans average 4-5 years. Average mileage is 10-14 thousand a year. At least that's how I see it.

[iamsuperdan]

Crazy wind here over the weekend. 

 

So yesterday, instead of spending a relaxing afternoon at the workbench, I was at my MIL's house, rebuilding the fence that blew down.

Two posts snapped, so I had to dig out and remove those, which had post stumps a good 2.5ft in the ground. 

Then I got to buy two new posts and some bags of concrete and get those in place. 

Everything went well, now tomorrow night I go back to actually start rebuilding the fence sections.

Ugh.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

It boggles my mind that they were able to achieve it, but Google's search engine is even stupider than it was last week.

Good job, dwerbles.     

 

[OldTrucker]

Found out my A1C has moved into the diabetic range. That my shoulder x-rays show moderate to severe arthritis in both shoulders and left thumb at the hand. Started having pain and now can't lift my arms higher than my shoulders. Showed up two weeks after they took me off my anti-inflammatory med. It was causing the beginning of an ulcer, and my liver enzymes were elevated and having fatty liver disease that is a bad sign!

Then walked out to the parking lot and got attacked by a Robin, her baby was under the car.

[NOBLNG]

On 5/29/2025 at 10:53 PM, 89AKurt said:

First World problem, been waiting for a good sunset.  Went to a favorite spot to watch sunsets.  I didn't park early, so the prime spot was not available.  After working with the tree, then seeing the pictures, they need someone to prune it, or cut it down.  Looks like it's growing out of the car. 🙄  It was awful.  /sarc off/

Just move the tree over a little bit.😜

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 6/1/2025 at 10:36 AM, johnyrotten said:

It's brilliant from a manufacturer's perspective of profit,If you think about it. The automotive manufacturers used to make money on their products quality and longevity. And parts.  Now, replacing your vehicle is at a minimum 30 or so thousand new, and you're lucky it gets through the term of the loan before a major issue arises. No coincidence that timing belts last about 60,000 miles, and loans average 4-5 years. Average mileage is 10-14 thousand a year. At least that's how I see it.

The really pathetic thing is that when I was a kid, my parents' generation railed loud and long about the problem and effects of "planned obsolescence" and were as a result primarily responsible for the rise of the "consumer protection" movement that's devolved into just another scam.

There was a time when company management was, for the most part, primarily concerned with offering a quality product or service, being reasonably secure in the expectation that GOOD products and services would sell themselves (somewhat), and result in ongoing long-term relationships with customers.

SEE: Southwest Airlines.

But at some point, bean counters motivated by nothing so much as maximizing short-term profits (which they call "maximizing shareholder value) came to power, and pretty much ruined everything.

SEE: Southwest Airlines

Edited June 4 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Multi-hundred dollar parts order mis-delivered by UPS to a residential address that simply doesn't exist...though they have repeatedly delivered to the shop address in the past (I have expensive stuff delivered to the shops because of the rise of porch-pirates that has come with changing home-neighborhood "demographics").

Rather than try to fight it out with UPS, I went to the shipper's customer service department.

Helpful, intelligent, and competent, she issued a credit memo immediately and initiated a replacement shipment.

So far, so good. I NEED these parts yesterday.

BUT...I just received a memo from the shipper informing me that IF the original order isn't returned within 30 days of the replacement request, I WILL BE CHARGED AGAIN FOR THE FULL PRICE OF THE REPLACEMENT.

SO...it looks like if the recipient isn't honest about sending the stuff back or UPS drops the ball finding it, I'M SCREWED.

We live in hope, but I won't hold my breath.

Every day I understand more and more why most normies don't want to bother trying to run a business.

 

Edited June 4 by Ace-Garageguy

[johnyrotten]

3 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Multi-hundred dollar parts order mis-delivered by UPS to a residential address that simply doesn't exist...though they have repeatedly delivered to the shop address in the past (I have expensive stuff delivered to the shops because of the rise of porch-pirates that has come with changing home-neighborhood "demographics").

Rather than try to fight it out with UPS, I went to the shipper's customer service department.

Helpful, intelligent, and competent, she issued a credit memo immediately and initiated a replacement shipment.

So far, so good. I NEED these parts yesterday.

BUT...I just received a memo from the shipper informing me that IF the original order isn't returned within 30 days of the replacement request, I WILL BE CHARGED AGAIN FOR THE FULL PRICE OF THE REPLACEMENT.

SO...it looks like if the receiver or UPS isn't honest about sending the stuff back or finding it, I'M SCREWED.

We live in hope, but I won't hold my breath.

Every day I understand more and more why most normies don't want to bother trying to run a business.

 

Last week I order a new riding jacket for my wife, reputable company I've used many times. A few hundred dollar order, quality gear isnt cheap. Now, magically, they don't ship to NY, from Texas. And a few other states, mostly east coast. I wonder if we're dealing with the same issue.

[89AKurt]

Took it in for new A-arm bushings, front brake calipers decided to fail by leaking all over.  Amazing I got it out by 4:45.  Of course I have an 8:00am appointment for an alignment, which tested my patience.  Oh wait, what thread is this........

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

13 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Took it in for new A-arm bushings, front brake calipers decided to fail by leaking all over.  Amazing I got it out by 4:45.  Of course I have an 8:00am appointment for an alignment, which tested my patience.  Oh wait, what thread is this........

Here's something to be happy about: if it was a real Ferrari, the job would have probably set you back $4500...just because.   

Edited June 5 by Ace-Garageguy

[NOBLNG]

On 5/31/2025 at 9:53 PM, Little Timmy said:

I made the mistake of buying an Earthquake garden tiller. Used it for a few days and then it torqued itself on a fist sized rock. Cracked the transmission housing into 5 pieces. The internal gears and other parts are just fine.

Turns out the transmission housing is made from a cast "pot metal".

Not weldable. 

The new transmission is $ 418. I can't just keep the gears and get a new housing, they only sell the transmission complete. 

The tiller new was $ 499.

 

If you bought it new that should be covered under warranty no? There is a good chance that the casting had a flaw in it that caused the breakage. A fist sized rock should not cause catastrophic damage.